One of the perennial problems for dog owners is in controlling where the animal eliminates waste. Animal waste can contain excessive amounts of nitrogen that essentially “burns” grass and other vegetation, similar to excessively fertilizing an area. While a proper amount of nitrogen is necessary for healthy plants, an excessive amount will damage and even kill the plants. The result is that the area of the lawn that an animal frequents for elimination of waste will turn brown and the area may become devoid of grass or other plant life.
Several approaches have been taken by pet owners in dealing with this problem. One method is to treat the area that the animal frequents by, for example, diluting the waste with water. Other potential methods of treatment are by removing the animal waste or re-seeding the area. However, these methods tend to be time consuming, labor intensive and may be ineffective if the animal repeatedly frequents the area. Another method of addressing the problem is by training the animal to eliminate waste in specific acceptable locations. Such locations may be where there is little or no vegetation, such as on woodchips or other non-seeded locations. The problem faced by animal owners is in consistently having the animal eliminate in such specific location.
Various methods may be used in training an animal to use a specific area for elimination. Training and behavior modification are one example. Another known method is to place animal attractants such as pheromones in the specific area of interest to encourage the animal to use that area. The considerations in using attractants is to provide a method of dispensing it that permits the scent to be disbursed consistently over an extended period of time, limiting access to the scent producing substance by the animal, easy access to the compartment for holding the scent producing substance so that it may be easily refilled and having a pleasing appearance to the device.
It is with these considerations in mind that the present invention is contemplated.